Ancient Qâêr
=Brief Overview= Qâêr is an SVO structured language with most of the focus and inflections around the verb as well as a few particles. Qâêr is the native language of the Yþwyn people. It was spoken on the planet Sâfâolêracópâ. In the current time period this language is extinct however the 7 major languages on this planet all descend from Ancient Qâêr which in turn descends from Proto-Fárîân. This language is suffix heavy and strictly SVO structured with very few irregularities. For a list on the dialects and different variations of Qâêr, please see the Qâêr Language Family =Phonology= Single Letters (Romanization) Diphthongs : Vowels Writing System The writing system for Ancient Qâêr is a Syllabic system. This means that each symbol (or letter) represents a consonant or consonant cluster plus a vowel. I am currently working on scanning individual images of each symbol and uploading them into a table with their correpsonding IPA equivalent to provide a better, more visual example. There is a group of basic symbols which are a consonant/consonant cluster plus the vowel a, these basic symboles are then extended (i.e. added to) to changed the vowel combination. Vowels do not exist alone in the Orthography of Ancient Qâêr, rather to write a vowel as one syllable, the symbole for voiceless glottal fricative (i.e. h) plus a corresponding vowel is used. Further examples can be seen in the (still yet uncompleted) table below. =Phonotactics= *The (A) means all consonants apart from stops. #'Kw' and Hw ##No consonants may be next to either of these unless they are dissylabic to Kw or Hw. ##May only be word inital and medial. #Nasals ##Can never be after Fricatives. ##Can be before Plosives and (when dissyllabic (except ñ)) may be before Liquids but only after Approximants. #Approximants ##Apart from when being before Nasals, they are always voiced. ##Can be word initial, before and/or after vowels. ##Can be before and/or after Fricatives. ##Are unvoiced before Nasals but cannot be placed after Nasals. ##Can never be after Liquids and can only be before them when dissyllabic. ##''Approximants'' can be before Plosives. #Fricatives ##Can never be before or after Plosives or (except when dissyllabic) Liquids. ##Can be before and/or after Approximants. ##Can be after Nasals #Liquids (J & W) ##Can never be before or after Fricatives or Approximants. ##Can never be before Plosives or Nasals. #Plosives ##Can be after Nasals and Approximants. ##Can never be before or after Fricatives. ##Can be before Liquids *Certain consonants cannot word-initial unless preceded by a vowel in a word and these are; **b **d **p ***'NB' There are, albeit a very few, exceptions. *''' Dissyllabic Example - Elwyn = El/wyn :The '''l and w''' are considered Dissyllabic to each other because they are not pronunced in the same syllable. Stress The stress is always placed on the second last accentuated vowel, and in the case where this is not accentuated then the stress swaps to the nearest accentuated vowel. In the case of two syllable words then the stress is always placed on the accentuated vowel and in the rare case where both vowels are accentuated the first one is favoured. *In words with are more than four syllables long the first accentuated and second last accentuated voewl are stressed. **E.g dhonsênansêwe where the stress is on BOTH sên and sê. =Grammar= Sentence Structure & Word Order The main clause structure is SVO, with subclauses being SOV. '''Main Clause : Subclauses : Noun Phrase : Verb Phrase : Prepositional Phrase : Noun, Verb, and Adjective Structure Noun Structure Verb Structure Adjective Structure *Adjectives cannot be inflected with comparative and the "Gradable" sufffix at the same time. Aspect and Tense Correlatives Personal Pronouns Cases Case Declension Table for Nouns with Examples Noun Class/Gender Declension Table Noun classes are inflected onto nouns, a noun must be in a noun class at all times. These classes are open to variation though only minor, and can also be used for derivation. Example a Man could be moved from the Human class to the Small Inanimate class syggesting the man is now dead, or is a corpse. These noun classes can also be used for comedy, example putting the same man into the Large Inanimate class suggesting obesity. However there are strict rules and guidlines and not all nouns can fit, or are allowed to be put into any class. Inanimate objects cannot move to the Human class, and the Non-Human class is, obviously, applied to all living things that are not Human. The second last class would be used to derive such forms as Pizzaria, and the last being used for Planets and Stars and such. -* When the last consonant of the root (or preceding suffix) is a vowel then the vowel of the suffix is not added. Noun Plural The Undefined Plural form of a noun is created by placing the sufffix '-lyn-'', e.g Noun Definitiveness Singluar Defined Nouns are followed by the suffix'-(n)yth''' and plural defined nouns by the suffix (n)êth. Example of a Fully Inflected Noun jymânêthenn''' is a fully inflected noun.'' The noun, and accompanying determiner translates, roughly, to The Men who can be learned from/The Men who are teachers/can be teachers It can be broken down into; :jymân-êth-e-ld ::Man-Plural-Def.-ABS.-N.Class Summary of Nouns and Their Structure Nouns must be in a class at all times, no noun is to be used (spoken or written) without being out into a class. This is grammatically wrong in Ancient Qâêr. Nouns may (though rarely) change classes however a noun must always be inflected with its relevant class at all times. Derivational affixes always precede the noun and where applicable, remove the first vowel of the noun. Adjectives All Adjective agree with their correpsonding nouns in class. All adjectives are neutral and are therefore inflected with whateverclass their parent noun is inflected with. Copulas There is one Copula in Qâêr and that is Mellon. Mellon is similar to the English verb to be however it is used only in two contexts, in reference to nouns and adjectives. Mellon is used when one is saying or describing one noun as another, or when using adjectives with pronouns. It conjugates thus; : :NB The pronouns used with Mellon take the Ergative case. :NB This copula can be inflected with aspect however not with any of the other verb affixes. :NB Any Noun (defined or not) that is not a Pronoun or Special Noun (eg. Names e.c.t) takes the form for they. Verb Agreement Verbs agree and conjugate with only two genders even though Qâêr has twelve. Verbs agree with the two genders Animate vs. Non-Animate because, in a sense, all eleven genders of Qâêr fit into these two distinctions. All living life including humans, plants, animals as well as emotions and magical entities come under the Animate distinction, everything not included in the above comes under the Inanimate. Verb conjugation is a suffix and is dependant on the Agent, Subject, and Object in the sentence. Intransitive Verbs Transitive Verbs Prefixes and Their Meanings There are many affixes in Qâêr however here is a basic list of the ones that won't be mentioned anywhere else on this page. Negation Verb negation is done by adding the prefix sao-''' to any particular verb one wishes to negate. Double negation is done by adding the prefix 'sêsao-' to any verbs. Double negation implies at not at all sense of meaning. *The single negative would convey a meaning as - He did not see Which conveys he did not see event/something. *The double negative would convey a meaning as - He cannot see Which conveys that the man can't see at all, i.e He is blind, or He sees nothing Which conveys that he is seeing or saw nothing at all, i.e He completely missed seeing the entire event/thing. The negation of adjectives is done also in a similiar fashion by adding the negation prefix 'sao-' to the adjective thus obtaining results such as Happy - '''Un'happy'' Derivation All the following are Prefixes which remove the first vowel (if applicable, i.e is simply added if the word begins with a consonant) when being attached to the host. *These prefixes only attach to verbs. Control Verbs In linguistics, a control construction (also called equi-NP deletion) is a clause that contains a main clause, the predicate of which has two complements — an embedded clause (or subordinate clause) complement and a nominal complement that acts as the semantic argument of the main clause and of the embedded clause. This nominal argument is the controller (or antecedent). Verbs that occur in control structures are control verbs (or equi verbs). : Example in English - ''George '''tried to escape'' Of course in the above sentence there are two verbs, so how does one distinguish between which verb is a control verb and which isnt? Well in English one simply doesn't know without foreknowledge however in Qâêr a distinction is made between normal and control verbs. Control Verbs in Qâêr are created and shown with a variated form of middle voice which inflects on the verb that will be or is taking the place of a Control Verb. There are two variants of the variated particle, one which refers to the Subject and one which refers to the Object. : Example in English - Georgina '''expected' to win the race'' : Here the control verb is Expected and the Subject is Georgina with the Race as the Object. : In this sentence both verbs refer to the subject, that being Georgina. : The gerund form can also be used - Georgina '''remembered' winning the race''. : Here the control verb is remembered but still both verbs refer to the subject. :: This is because it doesn’t make sense in English to write - Georgina expected Georgina/Herself to win the race. In Qâêr with reference to Control Verbs that relate to the Subject, the prefix Insert Here is used which attaches onto the secondary verb (the one that follows the main verb) which shows that the main verb is actually a control verb and that it and thi following verb are paired and refer to the Subject. : Thus the Qâêr translation looks like this in English - ''expected (Subject)herselfwin Georgina therace.'' : This set out above along with the prefix that attaches to the secondary (or the verb(s) being controlled) verbs makes it obvious that both verbs take Georgina as the subject. :: The layout of this sentence is as follows; :: Expected - Prefixwin - ERGGeorgina - ABSRace ::: *Considering verbs that relate to the subject (or Object as below), only the main verb takes tense. In relation to control verbs with secondary verbs that refer to the Object instead of the Subject, Qâêr has a similar pattern to above. : Example in English - She '''convinced' him to do it.'' :: Here the control verb is convinced. Syntactically Him is only the direct object of convinced however semantically Him is the patient of convinced and the agent of to do so therefore both verbs are acting on Him which therefore becomes the Object of both verbs. In Qâêr this is done by using variated form of the original control verb prefix Insert Here, however this one symbolises that the main verb and following secondary verb(s) act on the object and not the subject like above. Therefore applying this prefix the Qâêr translation into English looks like this; : Convinced - SuffixDo - ERGShe - ABSHim - [DAT}It :: * Remember that only the main verb takes tense. Phrasal, Prepositional, and Phrasal-Prepositional Verbs and their Usage in Qâêr Phrasal verbs are usually used informally in everyday speech as opposed to the more formal Latinate verbs, such as to get together rather than to congregate, to put off rather than to postpone, or to get out rather than to exit. Phrasal and Prepositional and Phrasal-Prep verbs have a very simple structure in Qâêr, The sentence structure stays the same with the verb at the head and the phrasal verb coming after the verb. The phrasal verb is inflected with a suffix indicating that it is not the main lexical verb (when applicable) and the preposition always comes after the verb and adverb and acts upon the last object whether DO or IDO (or subject in intransitive constructions) and when not then this preposition will precede its subject/object. This can also be done with adverbs, an adverb in a literal phrasal verb modifies the verb it is attached to, and a preposition links the subject to the verb. However the adverbs do not take case or any other unsuaul inflection. (unusual in this sense means anything that adverbs would not normally be inflected with) Phrasal : English Phrasal Verb (Transitive) - Switch off the light. :: Qâêr Translation - aspectSwitch off abslight ::: NB No Agent in the above sentence, rather the verb Switch off acts upon the Object The Light ::: NB When being used with personal pronouns, e.g ''Switch it '''off (English Usage), in Qâêr the structure doe not chnage for personal pronouns. : English Phrasal Verb (Intransitive) - When I entered the room he looked up. :: Qâêr Translation participle aspectenter ergI absroom, 'aspectlook up''' dathe '' :::NB When there is a lexical verb in the sentence as well as a phrasal/prepositional verb construction, the phrasal/prep verb always comes before the subject/object that performs the action/event, unless this is the same subject/object that performs the action/event of the main lexical verb in which case a structure similar to that of the below example is followed. : English Phrasal Verb with Adverb - She opened the shutters and looked outside. :: Qâêr Translation - aspectopen 'aspectlook outside''' erg.She absshutter'' Prepositional Prepositional verbs are phrasal verbs that contain a preposition. : English - On Fridays, we look after our grandchildren. :: Qâêr -'' aspectlook after Friday ergWe absgrandchildren'' :::NB Here, because this sentences is Habitual, the time refernce Friday goes after the verb and the verb would be in the habitual aspect, if this was a one-off mention of doing it on Friday's then Grandchildren would be followed by on datFriday. : English - We look after '''them. :: Qâêr - aspectlook after ergwe absthem The verb can have its own object, which usually precedes the preposition: : She '''helped the boy to an extra portion of potatoes. :: Qâêr - aspecthelp ergshe absportion extra Partitivepotatoes datboy ::: NB Here the Portion is what she helped him to, extra is an adjective of the noun portion and potatoes here inflected in Partitive case is what the portion was of. : With pronouns; She helped him to some. :: Qâêr - aspecthelp ergshe abshim datsome Prepositional verbs with two prepositions are possible: : We talked to the minister about the crisis. : Qâêr - aspecttalk about ergWe absCrisis datMinister Phrasal-Prepositional A phrasal verb can contain an adverb and a preposition at the same time. Again, the verb itself can have a direct object: - No direct object: The driver got off to a flying start. : Qâêr - Aspectgo great ergDriver '' :: '''NB' This is difficult to translate into Qâêr as the language lacks verbs for start or begin and relies rather on the Inceptive Aspect, therefore this sentence is translated thus and uses great as an adverb to replace the adjective flying in the English version. One thing to remember, not everything can be translated into another language, and this is an example. - Direct object: Onlookers put the accident down to the driver’s loss of concentration. : Qâêr -'' aspectput down ergOnlooker absAccident databessiveconcentration possDriver'' ::NB It is possible, seen in this example for a noun to be inflected in two cases, this only occurs with the Abessive and Equative cases however. ::NB In this context down is used as an adverb while to is the preposition. When down were to be used as the preposition it would have to come before its object. Phrasal Verbs and Modifying Adverbs In English when modifying adverbs are used alongside particle adverbs intransitively (as particle adverbs usually are), the adverbs can appear in any verb/particle/adverb positions (in English) however in Qâêr the structure follows strictly as - verb/adverb/particle. Example; : looked unhappily round He. The particle adverb here is round and the modifying adverb is unhappily. (Round is a particle because it is not inflected — does not take affixes or alter its form. Unhappily is a modifying adverb because it modifies the verb look). With a transitive particle verb, the adverb goes once again after the verb and before the particle. : Picked cheerfully up ErgHe Absbook. : 'Looked cheerfully after ergHe abschildren. Phrasal Verbs Combined with Special Verb Forms and Clauses Phrasal Verbs Combined with Wh- and That Clauses. Sentences which include verb + particle + object(s) + wh-clauses : English Example - The teacher tried to '''dictate to' his class what is the right thing to do'' : In Qâêr the particle to that comes after dictate would not be present as the Noun class would simply be inflected in Dative case, eliminating the need for this particle. The structure in Qâêr is as follows; :: Imperfective AspectDictate ergTeacher datclass his, participle Do absthing right / participle is absthing right :::either how to do the right thing or what is the right thing is acceptable in Qâêr. :::NB In this example the IO comes before the DO because the DO is imbedded in a subclause clause and this is the only context in which this happens. :English Example - My friends '''called for' me when the time came'' :Qâêr Example - aspectcall ergfriends possmine datme, participle aspectis abstime correct ::(when the time came cannot be directly and correctly translated into Qâêr) :English Example - Watch out that you don’t hit your head on the low beam :Qâêr Example - particle aspectHit on ergyou abshead possyour datbeam low Phrasal Verbs combined with Verb ''-ing'' Forms : English Example - You can’t '''prevent' me from seeing her'' : Qâêr Example - aspectnegationPrevent ergyou absme datHer ParticipleSee ::NB The Active Participle in Qâêr is used in place of gerunds (which Qâêr lacks) and in this context seeing is being used a secondary noun, similar to in English Police Car where Police is a secondary noun, except in Qâêr the secondary nouns follow their head. Participles The Present Active Participle To derive the Present Active Participle form of a Verb the suffix '-pon' is added which transforms verbs as walk or write '''into '''walking and writing and e.c.t. The present active participle is used to describe the name or noun version of a verb and takes the place of either the direct object (I like Swimming) or the subject (Swimming is Fun). When a verb is inflected with the present active participle it cannot be inflected with aspect or tense or any other affix. The position of the present active participle in a sentence depends on if it is taking the place of the subject or object in which case it takes the normal position of any normal subject or object in a Qâêr sentence, also these Present Active Participle nouns are commonly used as secondary nouns, eg. The '''Swimming Pool' where ''swimming is a secondary noun of Pool, same as in The '''swimming race. The Present Passive Participle To derive the Present Passive Participle form of a verb the suffix '''-pones which transforms verbs such as speak and write into spoken and written and e.c.t. The present passive participle is most commonly used as an adjective in Qâêr and it follows the noun like normal adjectives. An example of the Present Passive Participle is; The '''written' word'', or It is a '''spoken' law'', the '''burnt' log'', and e.c.t Example, in the above sentences it would follow the main noun like log, or law. Derivation using the Present Active Participle and the Present Passive Participle The present active participle and the present passive participle also have other derived lexical uses, mainly deriving concrete nouns. The suffix â''' is added onto the present active and passive participles (the complete suffixes becoming '''-ponâ and''' -ponesâ''' respectively) which in turn transform these two participles from writing and written into writer/author and letter '''respectively and so on for other participles. : Example; '''Speaking > Speaker and Spoken > Speech 'e.c.t The Adjectival Participle To derive the Adjectival Participle form of a verb the prefix of 'þyl is added which transforms verbs to adjective participles. An example of an adjectival participle is; : very '''overrated' books, or ''a very '''frightening' experience,'' or ''fallen leaves.'' However in Qâêr Adjectival Participles can be inflected with the Comparative or 'Gradable' prefix because they are being used as adjectives. Gerunds Qâêr has no gerunds and does not use or incorporate them in any way, instead the Present Active Participle takes the place and function of Gerunds in Qâêr. Voice Voice is represented by suffixes that attaches to the verb to indicate the voice of the noun in the ergative case, or when lacking one then in the Absolutive case. Qâêr has three voices, Active, Passive, and Middle, however only two of these are marked, the Passive and Middle voice. This is because the active voice is used the majority of the time therefore not needing an affix of its own. Examples are in English and Qâêr. Sentence in Past Perfective Tense : English – He gave Mary Money : Qâêr - bess semnel-el-nÿ swâren-e Mêrŷ-vey : Qâêr – ErgHe Gave-Aspect-Agreement Money-Abs Mary-Dat Sentence in Active Voice : English – bess semnel-wyn-nÿ swâren-e Mêrŷ-vey : Qâêr – ErgHe Give-Aspect-Agreement Money-Abs Mary-Dat Sentence in Passive Voice : English – Mary was Given Money : Qâêr – sômnel-wyn-nÿ swâren-e Mêrŷ-vey : Qâêr – Give-Aspect-Agreement Money-Abs Mary-Dat ::NB Passive voice (if you didn't notice) is done through ablaut of the verb.(See Derivations for more) Sentence in Middle Voice : English – He washes himself with soap. : Qâêr - bess donsyl-âr-wyn-eth hwesym-ele : Qâêr – ErgHe Washes-Middle*-Aspect-Agreement Soap-Instrumental *Actual Suffix is dâr, however the d'' is lost when attaching to a root that ends in a consonant. Manner Time Place Example in Qâêr – ''IErg RideTense/Aspect Today HorseAbs MyPos shopDat : English Translation – ‘I will ride my horse to the shop today.’ Mood and Modality In Qâêr mood is represented by a particle that is placed at the head of the sentence. Qâêr has thirteen moods. These are as follows; : Indicative (Realis) ::The indicative mood or evidential mood (abbreviated ind) is used for factual statements and positive beliefs. : Optative ::The optative mood (abbreviated opt) is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope that will not come true. : Subjunctive ::In grammar, the subjunctive mood (abbreviated sjv or sbjv) is a verb mood typically used to express a wish, emotion, or possibility that has not yet occurred. : Speculative ::Speculative mood (abbreviated spec) is an epistemic grammatical mood found in some languages, which indicates that the utterance is based on speculation of the speaker, and not actually known to be the case. For example, "The butler could have been the killer." : Potential ::The potential mood (abbreviated pot) is a mood of probability indicating that, in the opinion of the speaker, the action or occurrence is considered likely. : Jussive (Cohortative in 1st Person) ::The jussive (abbreviated jus) is a grammatical mood of verbs for issuing orders, commanding, or exhorting. Whereas the cohortative applies to the first person and the Imperative to the second person, thus the Jussive us used for 1st and 3rd person and Imperative for second. : Dubitative ::Dubitative mood (abbreviated dub) is an epistemic grammatical mood found in some languages, that indicates that the statement is dubious, doubtful, or uncertain. : Conditional ::The conditional mood (abbreviated cond) is the form of the verb used in conditional sentences to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event that is contingent on another set of circumstances. E.g. When/If I feel well, I will sing. : Hypothetical ::Hypothetical mood (abbreviated hyp) is an epistemic grammatical mood found in some languages, which indicates that while a statement is not actually true, it could easily have been. For instance, in English, "You know you shouldn't play with knives! You could have hurt someone!" : Imperative ::The imperative mood (abbreviated imp) expresses direct commands. : Interrogative (Particle) ::In linguistics and grammar, the interrogative mood (abbreviated int) is an epistemic grammatical mood used for asking questions by inflecting the main verb : Deliberative (Inflects on Interrogative) ::Deliberative mood (abbreviated del) is a grammatical mood that asks whether the speaker should do something, e. g. "Shall I go to the market? : Precative (Inflects on Interrogative) ::Precative (abbreviated prec) mood is a grammatical mood which signifies requests, e.g. "Will you pass me the salt?" Interrogative Words The interrogative particle lê 'will be inflected with prefixes and these will phrase interrogative words such as ''what, where ''e.c.t. The interrogative particle without one of these prefixes will just be turned into a normal question. : ''What = qâ + lê – '''qâlê : Where = qysyn + lê – qysynlê : When = qôe + lê – qôelê : Who = qem + lê – qemlê : Why = qŷ + lê – qŷlê : How = qyfao + lê – qyfaolê : How Much = sonâ + lê – sonâlê :: 'Sonâ '''is derived from the Fáriân word '''Sjinolâme '''which means ''‘to barter’. :: 'Note '– when using any of these interrogative words in Subordinate or Relative clauses, just the prefix is used, not the prefix with the particle. =Examples= The Number System Basic Numbers The Qâêr number system is duodecimal, similar to that of the Chepang and Mahl languages. 0 - Lyn 1 - Onno 2 - Sont 3 - Kes 4 - Loto 5 - Yros 6 - Mello 7 - Seles 8 - Opo 9 - Nesso A (10) - Kyros B (11) - Penlyn 10 (12) - Syryl 11 (13) - Onros 12 (14) - Sonros 13 (15) - Keros 14 (16) - Loros 15 (17) - Yrylos 16 (18) - Melros 17 (19) - Selros 18 (20)- Opos 19 (21) - Neros 1A (22) - Kyrylos 1B (23) - Penros Other Numbers before 100 With the numbers 24 - 100 there is a structured system however. 20 (24) - Sonân 30 (36) - Kenân 40 (48) - Lonân 50 (60) - Yrân 60 (72) - Melân 70 (84) - Selân 80 (96) - Opân 90 (108) - Nesân A0 (120) - Kyrân B0 (132) - Penlân 100 (144) - Syryley Combining Numbers To derive nukbers such as 21 (twenty-one) or 36 (thirty-six) for example, the structur is so; 21 = Lyn-ey-Sonân :The smallest number preceds the larger number. 145 = Yros-ey-Lonân-ey-Syryley Sentences The Featured Banner English Example - ::This language was once featured. ::Thanks to its high level of quality and uniqueness, it has been voted as featured. Qâêr Translation - :Synjômenwenâ Leñâmythend. :Kwâêrond âmnewynnÿeth Dysênel kwâtwân hir Sôemsymonólel, sonlâ yponônwenâ Kwâêrend Lythênythveyl Arasânyththond. ::Synjômen-wen-â Leñâm-yth-e-nd ::Made Known--PAST PASSIVE IMPEFECTIVE--AGREEMENT Language--DEFINED--ABSOLUTIVE--GENDER ::Kwâêr-o-nd âmne-wyn-nÿeth Dysên-e-l kwâ-twân hir Sôem-symonól-e-l, sonlâ yponôn-wen-â Kwâêr-e-nd Lythên-yth-vey-l Arasâ-nyth-tho-nd ::Qâêr--ERGATIVE Possess--IMPERFECTIVE--AGREEMENT Quality--ABSOLUTIVE--GENDER COMPARITIVE--Great and DERIVATION--Unique--ABSOLUTIVE--GENDER, therefore Vote--PAST IMPERFECTIVE--AGREEMENT Qâêr--ABSOLUTIVE--GENDER Position--DEFINED--DATIVE--GENDER Honour--DEFINED--GENITIVE--GENDER Re-translated version of Qâêr translation - ::This Language has been made known to the public. ::The cherished language of Qâêr possesses a very high level of quality and uniqeness and therefore has been voted was voted to this sacred position of Honour. 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